My 2015 in pictures | a year of milestones

Blimey. What a year 2015 has been for me. It’s always rewarding to look back and see what you’ve acheived over 365 days of only 24 hours each.

See ya, 2015. It’s been a momentous year for many reasons, so what better reason than to summarise in my 2015 in pictures! I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions because I believe that any time is good to make a change, and we shouldn’t need the annoying scribbling-out of the last digit every time we write ‘2015’ instead of ‘2016’ to do it.

My mum celebrated a milestone birthday

We threw her a surprise birthday meal in Leeds where she lives at the start of January. Many thanks to Jane for coordinating her workmates!

We bought our first house together!

Mark and I met in London, but he lived in Hampshire. He moved to London a year later, then we went to Surrey for a few years. After a lot of moaning about lack of tube station and me being unable to drive, we decided to head back to The Smoke to be near our friends, and bands. Lots of bands.

I went to Berlin for the first time

It was my friend’s milestone birthday so a few of us toddled off to Germany’s city of history and culture for 48 hours. I loved it, and next time, I’m going for at least a week!

I became a proper self-employed person

I quit my day job to become a PR specialist/blog editor, and got an article in The Guardian just a days after leaving ‘gainful’ employment. I’ve been running www.neverenoughnotes.co.uk for 7 years and doing music PR for 4 years, so the time to take the plunge came. I haven’t looked back – of course this required some professional-ish headshots. Here’s one I haven’t yet used.

I got married

Oh, yes, and it was all kinds of brilliant.

Credit: SJW Photography

Credit: SJW Photography

Credit: SJW Photography

Twice

We got legally married in Wakefield, West Yorkshire (my hometown) in front of 7 guests, and then had an outdoor blessing with all our friends and extended family 2 days later in Odiham, Hampshire (Mark’s hometown). You can likely tell we weren’t into the whole ‘white wedding’ thing. Some of our friends got married the month, and the week before us. It was a very special time for us!

Credit: Real Simple Photography

Credit: Real Simple Photography

Credit: Real Simple Photography

Credit: Real Simple Photography

I went to Devon for honeymoon no. 1.

Which included a camping trip to the magical Lundy island. Honeymoon no. 2 is in a few weeks, to Dominican Republic (where we got engaged) and then Puerto Rico. Lundy is a spectacular, special place.

I went to the usual festivals and gigs

Being in the photo pit for Duran Duran’s Bestival set was a career highlight!

I started making headway with my family history

My mum’s a historian, but we’ve never really made any real progress on my heritage (read a post on one side of my family here). We are slowly finding out more about my Grandad and his journey from Ukraine to the UK in the 1940s.

I met some amazing music people!

I am in daily contact with influential and inspirational people in music (especially unsung heroes), but getting the opportunity to interview both Edith Bowman and Ludovico Einaudi within weeks of each other was amazing. I’m already lining up some chats with more names in 2016. Read my interviews with Edith Bowman and Ludovico Einaudi.

So those are a few of my highlights from 2015 – there’s so much more I could include, from amazing parties and gigs, fun with friends and making new ones, and plenty more besides. 2016 is already looking up with plenty of travel and working abroad planned. See you on the other side!